28.6.09

The Crusade

The Crusade is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from March 27 to April 17, 1965.

The TARDIS arrives in 12th Century Palestine where a holy war is in progress between the forces of King Richard the Lionheart and the Saracen ruler Saladin.

For 'in depth' info, including a wonderful photo novel, follow this link;

http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/classic/episodeguide/crusade/

Copies of the four episodes were believed lost in the mass junking of episodes in the 1970s, with BBC Enterprises junking their copies. The BBC Film Library retained a copy of "The Wheel of Fortune"(episode 3)that it had accidentally acquired, but a copy of "The Lion"(episode 1)had been junked from the library by 1972.

The first episode of the subsequent story, The Space Museum, begins with a brief clip of the finale of Episode 4, "The Warlords", where the time-travellers stand in period costume round the TARDIS console, literally frozen in time (it is confirmed as a clip rather than a restaged scene by an off-camera cough on the soundtracks to both "The Warlords" and The Space Museum). This is the only known surviving footage from the final episode. Only stills survive for "The Knights of Jaffa"(episode 2) The story had been thought to be one of the very few for which no off-air soundtrack was known to exist, until copies were located in 1995. In 1999, a film copy of "The Lion" was discovered by Neil Lambess and Paul Scoones in the collection of Bruce Grenville, a film collector in New Zealand; the New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation had purchased the story in 1960s, but did not transmit it.

The soundtrack has been released on bbc audio. The cover is reproduced below;

Loose Cannon have released a reconstruction;

http://www.recons.com/recons/lc14.htm

The Doctor Who Restoration Team (http://www.restoration-team.co.uk/) and Independant Fan Groups are reconstructing these episodes. There are many examples on YouTube. Here is one of my favorites;

In 1999 a VHS version was released of episodes 1 and 3, with the events of Episodes 2 and 4 related by William Russell in character as an aged Ian Chesterton. A compact disc of the other two episodes' soundtracks was included in the package. The two intact episodes and the two soundtracks for The Crusade were again released as part of the Lost in Time DVD collection of restored episodes and clips in 2004, with Russell's sections as an extra when "Play All" is selected on disc one. The cover of the VHS is reproduced below;

This serial was the third and final story to be novelised by Frederick Muller publishers. Written by David Whitaker as Doctor Who and the Crusaders, it was first published in 1966 and was the last novelisation published until 1973 when Target Books launched its long-running line of episode adaptations, beginning with reprints of this and the preceding two novels. There have been French, Dutch and Portuguese editions.

As with Whitaker's first novelisation, the story is converted into a stand-alone novel with a lengthy prologue in the TARDIS where the travellers discuss the paradoxes of their journeys and time travel. The pointlessness of a religious war is also emphasised more.

Once again, Whitaker plays up the romantic potential of Ian and Barbara and includes a graphic passage of Barbara being scourged. For some reason the name of Susan's husband has changed from David Campbell to David Cameron.

In 2005 the novel was also issued by BBC Audio as part of the Doctor Who: Travels in Time and Space audio book collectors tin, read by William Russell.

There is a script book available;

The Target cover by the fantastic Chris Achillos is reproduced below;

There have been many articles featuring The Crusade in the pages of DWM. To locate the relevant issue why not check out this index;